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Triple Eight Race Engineering’s series leader, Declan Fraser, has qualified on pole position for Race 1 of the final round of Super2 at the Valo Adelaide 500.
The battle for pole position essentially came down to a duel between him and Grove Racing’s Matt Payne, with the man in the #777 VF Commodore prevailing by 0.0240s.
Row 2 will also be comprised of two of the title contenders, with Tickford Racing’s Zak Best third-fastest and Triple Eight’s Cameron Hill fourth, while MW Motorsport’s Tyler Everingham was seventh-quickest.
Fraser had set a 1:21.0086s on the only flyer of his first run and that was the fastest lap until Matt Payne (#10 Nissan Altima), who reportedly started on new tyres, moved to a 1:20.9639s with four minutes to go.
The Triple Eight pilot responded by setting a new practice/qualifying lap record on the recently resurfaced Adelaide Parklands Circuit when he clocked a 1:20.3761s at the start of his second run.
Practice fast man Jaylyn Robotham (#999 Image Racing VF Commodore) then went second with a 1:20.7527s before he was usurped by Best (#78 FGX Falcon) on a 1:20.6646s.
Fraser almost went faster again as he laid down a 1:20.4118s just before the chequered flag came out, after which Payne improved two positions with a 1:20.4001s and Hill moved up from fifth to fourth with a 1:20.7324s.
Robotham thus ended up fifth and Matt Chahda qualified sixth, although the #18 Matt Chahda Motorsport FGX Falcon will start ninth due to a grid penalty.
Rounding out the qualifying top 10 were Everingham (#27 Nissan Altima), Thomas Maxwell (#3 MWM Nissan Altima), Angelo Mouzouris (#6 MWM Nissan Altima), and Cameron Crick (#38 Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodore).
The 16 Super2 competitors filled the top 16 positions while, in the earlier Super3 half of the session, Kai Allen (#26 Eggleston Motorsport VE Commodore) secured a class pole position with a 1:22.0336s on his third hot lap.
He subsequently survived a close call with Shane Beikoff (#68 Shane Beikoff Racing AU Falcon) exiting the Turn 8 sweeper and is set to be joined on the ninth row of the grid by title rival Brad Vaughan (#5 Anderson Motorsport FG Falcon), who went as quick as a 1:22.3491s.
Qualifying for Race 2 of Round 6 starts today at 16:40 local time/17:10 AEDT, and Race 1 tomorrow at 13:55 local time/14:25 AEDT.
Results: Qualifying for Race 1
| Pos | Num | Team/Sponsor | Driver | Car | Cls | Fastest lap | Split |
| 1 | 777 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Declan Fraser | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:20.3761 | |
| 2 | 10 | Grove Racing | Matthew Payne | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:20.4001 | 0:00.0240 |
| 3 | 78 | Best Leisure Industries | Zak Best | Ford Falcon FG/X | S2 | 1:20.6646 | 0:00.2885 |
| 4 | 111 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Cameron Hill | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:20.7324 | 0:00.3563 |
| 5 | 999 | Rare Spares | Jaylyn Robotham | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:20.7527 | 0:00.3766 |
| 6 | 18 | CAT workwear | Matthew Chahda | Ford Falcon FG/X | S2 | 1:21.1806 | 0:00.8045 |
| 7 | 27 | Blue Ribbon Legal / MWM | Tyler Everingham | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:21.3007 | 0:00.9246 |
| 8 | 3 | SPITWATER / MWM | Thomas Maxwell | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:21.3220 | 0:00.9459 |
| 9 | 6 | aginic / MWM | Angelo Mouzouris | Nissan Altima | S2 | 1:21.3704 | 0:00.9943 |
| 10 | 38 | Eggleston Motorsport | Cameron Crick | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:21.4316 | 0:01.0555 |
| 11 | 49 | Bruant & Bryant | Jay Hanson | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:21.4367 | 0:01.0606 |
| 12 | 30 | Sherrin Rentals | Aaron Seton | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:21.8056 | 0:01.4295 |
| 13 | 8 | AWC Motorsport | Lachlan Dalton | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:21.8074 | 0:01.4313 |
| 14 | 58 | EFS 4×4 Accessories | Ryal Harris | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:21.8268 | 0:01.4507 |
| 15 | 11 | Brema Group Racing | Zane Morse | Holden Commodore VF | S2 | 1:21.9749 | 0:01.5988 |
| 16 | 67 | Flash Bush Motorsports | Nash Morris | Ford Falcon FG/X | S2 | 1:21.9864 | 0:01.6103 |
| 17 | 26 | Eggleston Motorsport | Kai Allen | Holden Commodore VE | CH | 1:22.0336 | 0:01.6575 |
| 18 | 5 | Anderson Motorsport | Brad Vaughan | Ford Falcon FG | CH | 1:22.3491 | 0:01.9730 |
| 19 | 33 | Adam Wallis Motorsport | Adam Wallis | Holden Commodore VE | 1:25.1894 | 0:04.8133 | |
| 20 | 46 | Turbo Brisbane | Jarred Danaher | Ford Falcon FG | SC3 | 1:25.3239 | 0:04.9478 |
| 21 | 23 | RHM / Nulon | Ray Hislop | Ford Falcon BA | SC3 | 1:25.7736 | 0:05.3975 |
| 22 | 93 | Unit Racing | Jason Gomersall | Ford Falcon FG | SC3 | 1:25.8473 | 0:05.4712 |
| 23 | 7 | Mocomm Motorsport Comms | Jim Pollicina | Holden Commodore VE | SC3 | 1:26.1744 | 0:05.7983 |
| 24 | 39 | Vectra Corp | Chris Smerdon | Ford Falcon FG | SC3 | 1:26.1800 | 0:05.8039 |
| 25 | 96 | Collins Racing | Gary Collins | Holden Commodore VE2 | 1:31.3270 | 0:10.9509 | |
| 26 | 68 | Turbo Brisbane | Shane Beikoff | Ford Falcon AU | HC | 1:34.2545 | 0:13.8784 |
Classes: S2 Super2, CH Super3 Championship, SC3 Super3 Cup, HC Super3 Heritage Class
